WEEK THREE: The Destination!
Welcome to the Main Thread for the third and last week of the Sergio Assad Community Challenge!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (← click)
- Watch the Kick-Off-Livestream on July 16th to get an overview!
- Download the scores for Assad's 10 Sketches here (← click)
If you want to describe your process (optional), feel free to use the following template.
- Things you found easy:
- Things you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing the Sketch!
- (Optional:) questions
↓ Reply below with your assignments and questions! ↓
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Sketch VII again. I am attempting to play this again with Assad's chords, not mine. After watching Martin give some help with how to best play the chords, I decided to practice them more, and they have improved a bit. Again, I am only attempting the first five variations, or measures 1-63.
What was easy: Nothing
What was difficult: I still feel like I'm fumbling around with both hands. I feel a little more secure in the left hand now, but nowhere near where it needs to be. Rhythmically, it still lacks flow.
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Eric Phillips diligent Eric! Good job! :)
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Eric Phillips Well done Eric - Ive always been impressed by your sense of rhythm. Keep up good work!
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Jaime Zaldua Thank you, Jaime! When I listen to this, I mostly hear a lack of rhythmic clarity. I appreciate your positive feedback.
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Eric Phillips Wow, I enjoyed that very much! I find it super interesting that your 3:2 and 4:3 rhythms are much clearer than your 5/8 and interestingly your 6/8 in bar 27! I think (without having heard your last take on Sketch VII yet) that you are so occupied to play everything in time that you don't segment the bar, which actually will help you technically as well!
For me, it always helps to mark the accents and the beam groups visually because then I don't have to think and remember it. Same goes with the metronome, I use that so that I don't have to think about counting too much. Seems I don't enjoy thinking too much, which I actually do
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Martin Thanks so much for the detailed feedback, Martin. Here's a recording of this third variation alone (mm 27-39) that I hope is better. I think I'm doing the 6/8 better, but I'm still not sure if the measures in 5/8 are correct. They certainly don't feel good to me, but I'm not sure if that's because I'm playing them incorrectly or if it's just because 5/8 is supposed to feel like this. I'm counting "1-2-3 1-2" in my head as I play.
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Eric Phillips That's awesome and INSANELY quick reply, trying my best to keep up now, haha! I liked that very much, though you introduce a micro pause in the end of each 6/8 bar which obscures the meter a bit! You'd be fine doing that when you do a ritardando towards the end because then we might feel the last beat of that bar as an extended 6th beat, but since you play it quite accurately in the beginning, I feel like your 6/8th bar actually wants to be are 7/8th bar (which is the coolest meter ever). Btw., the accent on the c# doesn't make our lives easier there.
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Martin Well, your response was AMAZINGLY fast as well, Martin! It was also incredibly helpful.
Here's an updated version of the third variation. It feels better when I'm playing it, but when I listen back, it still doesn't sound quite right. The accent in the second measure sounds choppy. The 5/8 measures still sound rushed to me. That said, I do think it's better.
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Here is my first take on Sketch IV.
Things I found easy: ...
Things I found difficult: to remember the bass lines :)
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Khiem Nguyen Good work, Khiem, especially for a first take!
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Eric Phillips thank you Eric :D
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Khiem Nguyen That's so beautiful, bravo Khiem! I just think, that you're audio and video was out of sync after the cut, which I didn't mind at all, I was just listening and looking into the score. It's a captivating performance :)
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Martin thank you a lot Martin! I noticed the out of sync after the cut. I tried to fix that is not successful yet. I will try to fix the sync again :)
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Here is my second take on Sketch IV.
Things I found easy: ...
Things I found difficult:...
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Khiem Nguyen Very clear improvement, Khiem! Good work.
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Eric Phillips thank you a lot for your encouragement, Eric :D
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Khiem Nguyen Very nice playing Khiem a very mellow sweet interpretation.
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Jaime Zaldua thank you Jaime! :)
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Khiem Nguyen definitely a improvement, much clearer lines both in the melody and the bass! Btw., I think your double stops improved as well, that sound much more together!
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Khiem Nguyen great Khiem! looks like what you find easy and hard is the same « ... »
nice improvement over the previous submission 
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Martin thank you for your feedbacks :)
Blaise Laflamme , thank you , I was running out of words to describe what are difficult ^_^
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Sketch VII AGAIN! I keep working on this. This time I played the whole thing (not without a few stops). It was my first and only take - I promised myself not to do more than one.
What was easy: I definitely feel more confident with the chord changes, and the rhythm in the earlier variations I think is a little clearer.
What was difficult: The mixed meters and polyrhythms of the later variations are still a bit murky for me.
By the way, the clicking sound around 1:50 is my dog walking across the hard floor in the room next to me.
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Eric Phillips Its getting better all the time.
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Jaime Zaldua Slowly!
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Eric Phillips Bravo! You played that 4:3 with such ease! I think I never needed to decipher 4:3 before playing that piece, so that was new for me as well!
And for end: you'll get there, it's amazing to see you progressing! Careful with that pinky in the penultimate bar
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
